In patchwork girl, however, shelley jackson reawakens the female monster by having. To click on each hyperlink is to venture into a different zone of the story. These tales of the anatomys ludicrous sorrows are deliciously crafted, maintaining always a fine balance between outrageous comedy and profound melancholy. Encouraged to patch up the scattered chunks of text, the. Gathering the limbs of the text in shelley jackson. Shelley jackson s brilliantly realized hypertext patchwork girl is an electronic fiction that manages to be at once highly. Creating the senses sensation in the work of shelley jackson. It was written in storyspace and published by eastgate systems in 1995, and tells the story through illustrations of parts of a female body that are stitched together through text and image. Flickering connectivities in shelley jacksons patchwork girl. In a perhaps intentional irony, the eastgate title page inscribes jackson s name below as.
Before going any further, a general description of. On the oz kids, she was voiced by lori alan and had numerous infant patchwork kids. Shelley jackson s patchwork girl and the gothic nature of hypertext. Shelley and her female monster alongside text by jacques derrida, donna haraway, and others. In the patchwork girl folder, click on the patchwork girl icon to open the novel. Presented in hypertext format, patchwork girl uses intertextual allusions borrowed from canonical texts such as mary shelley s frankenstein and l. Shelley jackson s hypertext consists of five main sections. Political and ethical concerns linked to the hypertext novel. Hypertext is a term coined by ted nelson for forms of. The event took place in october 20 in the electronic. Shelley jackson born 1963 is a writer and artist known for her crossgenre experiments, including her groundbreaking work of hyperfiction, patchwork girl 1995. Patchwork girl reading guide university of washington. You can access lexiasindividual screens of text or imageby clicking on words or images, or you can use the map to go to selected lexias. The monstrosity of media in shelley jackson s patchwork girl and other posthumanist critiques of the instrumental.
Feminist alternatives tofrankensteinianmyths in shelley. Although shelley jacksons patchwork girl is hypertextual. May 29, 2014 part 1 of shelley jackson s traversal of her hypertext poem, patchwork girl, for the pathfinders project, led by dene grigar and stuart moulthrop and sponsored by the national endowment for the. She also appeared in walter murchs return to oz as an unbilled extra. It picks up the monstrous bodymonstrous text idea from mary shelley s frankenstein and really explores monstrosity in all its various forms. Jackson, a published book illustrator as well as author, creates a digital collage out of her own words and images as she tells us about the female companion to frankensteins. Shelley jacksons hypertext consists of five main sections. April 12, 2007 this is a response to they hypertext fiction work patchwork girl by shelley jackson. She first appeared in the patchwork girl of oz she is a living doll made of patchwork, button eyes, brown yarn hair, a felt tongue, and pearl teeth. Patchwork girl is great hypertext and a great novel. Shelley jackson s patchwork girl patchwork girl, a hypertext vision sewn together by shelley jackson, is a story and an account of the creation of a monster and the relationship the mind has with the monster within the technical boundary of lexia.
I havent seen many authors speak about one of their pieces that i have not studied some myself. The osiris myth seems to have had a special appeal to modernist writers. Essay about shelley jacksons patchwork girl 1958 words. Shelley jackson talks with vito acconci, the believer 911 and the. Certainly one way that patchwork girl is monstrous has to do with technology big surprise thereit takes hours just to figure out how to read the novel. Shelley jackson biography yborn in 1963 in the philippines. Jackson, a published book illustrator as well as author, creates a digital collage out of her own words and images as she tells us about the female companion to. Shelley jackson s patchwork girl and the persistence of print in the age of hypertext paul hackman bio in the early 1990s a number of academics began to note the potentially drastic changes new media might have on the place of print literature in college classrooms and society at large. It is often discussed along with michael joyces afternoon, a story as an important work of hypertext fiction. Shelley jackson is an american writer and artist known for her crossgenre experiments, including her hyperfiction, patchwork girl 1995.
Request pdf flickering connectivities in shelley jackson s patchwork girl. She fell in love with books and she knew she wanted to become a writer. The thesis explores how shelley jackson s hypertext work patchwork girl 1995 provides a feminist alternative to dominant frankensteinian mythologies of unethical creation, arguing that it succeeds in doing so by offering alternative approaches to. Whoever shelley jackson may be, if she wants me to mouth her words, she can expect them to come out a little changed. Finnegans wake, bringing together the leitmotifs of resurrection of osiris. She is well known for her pioneering crossgenre experiments such as her groundbreaking hypertext novel, patchwork girl, and her ongoing skin project, a novella published exclusively in the form of tattoos on the skin of.
Shelley jacksons representation of patchwork girl plays on such blurring of identities through the recombinaition of her proper name into that of another. Seeing shelly jackson speak this last week really helped me to sew the pieces of her patchwork girl together. Landow, professor of english and art history, brown university patchwork girl, shelley jackson s brilliant hypertext parable of writing and identity generates both its themes and techniques from the kind of collagewriting intrinsic to hypertext. Jackson, a published book illustrator as well as author, creates a digital collage out of her own words and images as she tells us about the female companion. Although shelley jackson s patchwork girl is hypertextual, navigating through the novel differs from reading a web page. Journal of american studies of turkey 18 fall 2003. Request pdf flickering connectivities in shelley jacksons patchwork girl. Shelley jackson born 1963 is an american writer and artist known for her crossgenre experiments, including her hyperfiction, patchwork girl 1995.
Shelley jacksons patchwork girl is not simply a new recreation of mary. We can now, based on our examination of nelsons texts, provide the first two sentences of a historicallybased definition of hypertext appropriate for a world familiar with the web. Flickering connectivities in shelley jacksons patchwork. Shelley jackson s patchwork girl patchwork girl, a hypertext vision sewn together by shelley jackson, is a story and an account of. Discussions by members of english 276, neovictorianism, brown university, 2010 reading in time, reading in fragments. Shelley jackson s patchwork girl demonstrates how intertextual allusions are used as piecework in order to construct new literatures together from various sources of the past. The patchwork girl aka scraps is a character from the fantasy oz book series by l. Reconstructing boundaries in shelley jackson s patchwork girl. She is seen in the background at princess ozmas coronation. Aug 14, 2014 shelley jacksons hypertext, patchwork girl, begins with a series of, not so much headings, but hyperlinks.
It has come to my attention that a young woman claiming to be the author of my being has been making appearances under the name of shelley jackson. Patchwork girl is not only a culminating work for the classical period of electronic literature hayles 2008, 7 but also the beginning of jacksons careerlong unfolding of the material, literary, and embodied relations between text and. Ub s exhibit x f iction series presents shelley jackson. Shelley jackson writes on snow for a new type of story. Jan 01, 2014 this is raw footage of pioneering artist, shelley jackson, traversing her work of electronic literature, patchwork girl, for pathfinders.
A selfdescribed student in the art of digression, jackson holds an ab in studio art from stanford university and an mfa in creative writing from brown university. Shelley jackson s hypertext, patchwork girl, begins with a series of, not so much headings, but hyperlinks. And who else but the reader somehowwhose epitaph shelley jacksons work as a whole, and patchwork girl exemplarily, may be meticulously spelling out, in a possible reminder of milorad pavics opening epigraph in dictionary of the khazars. So language and thought already relates to my body, to my senses, and it gives me a visceral pleasure to make the connection explicit, by naming a piece of text my foot or. Jun 16, 2011 of these firstgeneration hypertext novels, one of the most widely acclaimed has been shelley jackson s patchwork girl. Shelley jackson s patchwork girl and the persistence of print in the age of hypertext the early 1990s a number of academics began to note the potentially drastic changes new media might have on the place of print literature in college classrooms and society at of literature, the electronic word. I expect there are some of you who still think i am shelley jackson, author of a hypertext about an imaginary monster, the patchwork girl mary shelley made after her firstborn ran amok. Once the program opens, choose file, open and patchw. Patchwork girl is a work of electronic literature by american author, shelley jackson.
Shelley jacksons patchwork girl patchwork girl, a hypertext vision sewn together by shelley jackson, is a story and an account of the creation of a monster and the relationship the mind has with the monster within the technical boundary of lexia. Patchwork girl is a work of electronic literature by american author shelley jackson. It is comprised in part of patches of other works, most notably mary shelley s frankenstein i have made this essay entirely out of parts from the novel. Mapping shelley jacksons patchwork girl the bookstore. She was originally brought to life by a magician who lived in the munchkin country named dr. Patchwork girl reading guide although shelley jacksons patchwork girl is hypertextual, navigating through the novel differs from reading a web page.
Shelley jacksons hypertext novel patchwork girl is a continuation of the work. Shelley jacksons patchwork girl was created in storyspace, is distributed by eastgate systems, inc. The text below is a complete transcript of jackson s presentation at the transformations of the bookconference held at mit on october 2425, 1998. Although shelley jackson s patchwork girl is hypertextual. Gathering the limbs of the text in shelley jacksons patchwork girl. A fter inscribing a story word by word on to the skin of 2,000 volunteers in 2003, the author and illustrator shelley jackson has embarked on a fiction project that is already much less solid. Here lies the reader who will never open this book. Pioneering artist, shelley jackson, traversing her work of. It was written in storyspace and published by eastgate systems in 1995. Perhaps the true paradigmatic work of the era, as robert coover put it, shelley jackson s elegantly designed, beautifully composed patchwork girl offers the patient reader, if there are any.
In a perhaps intentional irony, the eastgate title page inscribes jacksons name below as the authorized. Shelley jackson shelley jacksons patchwork girl patchwork. Essay about shelley jacksons patchwork girl 1958 words cram. Jackson, a published book illustrator as well as author. The author will make every effort to attend the funerals of her words. Patchwork girl sometimes called a new standard in hypertext fiction consists of 323 lexias, 462 links inspirations novels the patchwork girl of oz l. Jan 17, 2014 a fter inscribing a story word by word on to the skin of 2,000 volunteers in 2003, the author and illustrator shelley jackson has embarked on a fiction project that is already much less solid. Perhaps the true paradigmatic work of the era, shelley jacksons elegantly designed, beautifully composed patchwork girl offers the patient reader, if there are any left in the world, just such an experience of losing oneself to a text, for as one plunges deeper and deeper into ones own personal exploration of the relations here of creator to created and of body to text, one never fails to be rewarded and so is drawn ever deeper, until clicking the mouse is as unconscious an act as. Jacksons numerous and varied publicationsher novel half life, a 440page novel about conjoined twins chosen as one of the village voices favorite books of 2006, her story collection the melancholy of anatomy, the acclaimed hypertexts patchwork girl a reworking of the frankenstein myth, the doll games, and my body, her illustrated chil. Shelley jackson s patchwork girl and the persistence of print in the age of hypertext i n the early 1990s a number of academics began to note the potentially drastic changes new media might have on the place of print literature in college classrooms and society at large. Part 1 of shelley jackson s traversal of her hypertext poem, patchwork girl, for the pathfinders project, led by dene grigar and stuart moulthrop and.
In the late nineties, jackson alternated hypertext work with writing short stories. In both projects i mean to push awareness of the materiality of the written word so far that it slows the leap to denotative meaning way down, and at the same time complicates that meaning by inviting all sorts of intrusive extra associations, many of. Shelley jackson biography yborn in 1963 in the philippines yraised in berkeley, ca yher family ran a bookstore, which had a great influence on her. The importance of mediaspecific analysis 2000pmc 10. On the body the original body is dissociated, porous and unbiased the mind, on the other hand has an obsession with stasis, centrality, and unity. Gathering the limbs of the text in shelley jacksons. Shelley s books for adults include the melancholy of anatomy anchor books, 2002 and half life harpercollins, 2006. I expect there are some of you who still think i am shelley jackson, author of a hypertext about an imaginary monster, the patchwork girl mary shelley made after her firstborn ran. Patchwork girl, shelley jackson s brilliant hypertext parable of writing and identity generates both its themes and techniques from the kind of collagewriting intrinsic to hypertext. Eine passage aus einem interview kann als ubergang zu ihrem hypertext. Jackson s literary works consist of the hypertexts patchwork girl 1995,my body 1997 and the doll games n.
No, i am the monster herself, and it is shelley jackson who is imaginary, or so it would appear, since she always vanishes when i turn up. Her first novel half life is forthcoming from harpercollins. Shelley jackson, with sound by john wesley harding and html coding by ken fricklas the author and artist shelley jackson has produced a corpus of work in print and electronic media that takes as its central focus the relationship between human identity and the bodys constituent organs, fluids, connective tissues, and other parts. Fisher center lecture series, life of words, patchwork girl, shelley jackson add a comment. Shelly jackson march 4, 2009 posted by smike97k in cyborgs. Jackson gained recognition with her first hypertext novel patchwork girl eastgate systems, 1995, which reworks the frankenstein myth. View essay shelley jackson from wmst 3440h at trent university. Jacksons text relies equally on the conventions of print that inform its relationship to mary shelleys frankenstein, the links between material cultures of print and of weaving that are evoked by the stitching together of the patchwork girls parts, and the electronic, hypermedia form of the text itself.